Carry Me Home
by HawthornSword
Summary: Carolina is flirting with York, Wash is chasing South, and Virginia is pining after Wash, but Agent West Virginia just wants to drown her sorrows in a glass of whiskey. However, Maine is looking surly, and he's headed straight for her...with a bottle of her favorite whiskey in hand. It's going to be a "carry me home" kind of night.(Edited 4/3/14: grammar and slight dialogue change)


**************Disclaimer: Red vs. Blue belongs to Rooster Teeth, not me. I make no profit from this, and no copyright infringement is intended.**

******4/3/14: Cleaned up some grammatical stuff and made a few minor edits to dialogue. Hopefully is a bit better now. :)**

**3/25/14: I'm not done with this week's chapter of Survivors yet, but I want to keep a pretty consistent update schedule, so here is a one-shot prequel/companion piece to hold you over. My OC Agent West Virginia/Stacy is the woman Wash is always on the radio with during Recovery One and Season Six (See my other story, Survivors). There will be more on her and her friend Virginia later, so this is a bit of a teaser for you. Enjoy! Reviews are love!**

**Carry Me Home**

Freelancer Agents Virginia and West Virginia sat at a booth in Club Errera, enjoying an evening off. Or rather, West sat nursing a glass of the strongest whiskey she could find and glowering hatefully across the bar where Carolina was flicking the lighter she had just taken out of York's hand on and off.

"I just don't get it Vi," West said to her best friend. "I really thought York and I had something."

"Honey, sleeping with the resident 'playboy' doesn't count as something. Not even if it's more than once," Vi gave West the _'are you really going to try this line of conversation with me'_ look. "You know I love you sweetie, but you also know better than to go down this road."

"Can you really blame me? I mean, just look at him," West sighed longingly. Vi looked, but she was actually keeping an eye out for someone else entirely.

"Shit," West said suddenly. Vi turned to see her friend slump down low in her seat, and then followed the woman's gaze past York and Carolina to what, or rather whom, West Virginia was now looking at. Vi looked back at her friend with an _'I told you so'_ look on her face now.

"I can't blame you West, but he can," Vi nodded toward the man at the bar. West buried her head in her hands as agent Maine glanced her way and then grabbed a beer from the bar. He nodded to Carolina – and ignored York completely.

"He's coming over here West," Vi said softly.

"What? Crap! Where are you going?" West looked desperately at Virginia as the other woman slid out of the booth.

"I'm going to see if Wash came with Maine," she said casually.

"Hypocrite," West grumbled. She immediately felt bad when Vi's face clouded with indecision. "Sorry, ignore me. You've got a better chance with Wash than anybody. Nobody even likes South! Go get him." Vi gave her friend a smile that looked a little sad and walked away. West's attention now turned back to the giant of a man walking toward her.

Most people would have started running if that blank-faced wall of muscle had been striding toward them with such purpose. Or they would have been so completely terrified that they were frozen in place. West leaned back in her seat and finished her whiskey. She was terrified alright, but for completely different reasons.

Maine plunked an almost full bottle of West's favorite whiskey down on the table and sat down heavily opposite her.

"To nurse that broken heart," He growled sarcastically.

"Don't you mean pride?" West grumbled and glanced back toward York and Carolina.

"Carolina will kick your ass," Maine said casually.

"She can kick yours," was West's lackluster reply.

"Bitch," Maine jabbed at her.

"Ass," West returned. Maine smirked at her. They had always used to banter like this. "Let's get the story straight though. I would totally kick Carolina's ass. It's just that York is no longer interested.

Maine snorted with derision, "I'd believe that if we were talking about Virginia and South."

"Fuck you," West took a swig straight from the bottle and took a moment to enjoy the burn. She felt like her whole body was on fire, with him sitting there in front of her again. It was different than being in their armor, in training or on a mission. That was fine. This was too close, too personal. She thought she put out those flames, months and months ago. Turns out they were still burning brighter than the sun.

"I am," Maine said after the pause had drawn out for an uncomfortable amount of time.

"What?" West questioned, confused.

"Still interested," he said softly, almost like a purr. West looked at the whiskey bottle, wondering how much she'd actually had to drink that night.

"I...never even apologized," Shit, was her voice cracking? Suck it up girl! Maine shrugged, but he seemed to growl a little. "I had no reason to go, and I knew it."

"You're shit at apologies," Maine stated bluntly.

"Which is why you never ask me to apologize when I screw up," West teased. Maine gave a smirk, and West suddenly missed those rare smiles she used to work so hard for. She took another swig of whiskey and looked away, locating Virginia across the room.

Vi was actually talking to Wash – amazing! South walked up though and ruined the moment – bitch. Wash was already distracted, and Virginia receded back into her shell. Another swig of whiskey.

"Apparently tonight's a 'carry me home' kind of night," Maine observed.

"Hey, you're the one who brought over the bottle," West replied. "Besides, I'm drinking for two," she gestured towards Vi with the bottle still in her hand.

"You know you used to dance when we'd go to clubs," Maine said as he watched Wash follow South to the bar and Virginia retreat to the bathroom. Maine sighed. Wash was an idiot sometimes. "You'd wear that red and yellow skirt and spin really fast," he continued. "You were like a bunch of flame."

"Not much to dance about lately," West said morosely. "End of the world as we know it, and all. We're losing this war, Maine. The whole damn world's on fire, falling to bits."

"Maybe so, but we used to fall apart together," he said.

"You always have such a way with words," West marveled. "Alright, let's dance," she said. West took another drink of her now half empty whiskey bottle and stood up abruptly – and almost collapsed in a fit of dizziness before she was caught up in Maine's big arms.

"Okay, you're cut off," Maine scooped her up and carried her outside into the cool night air.

"Not my fault. Someone put a whiskey bottle in my way," West mumbled before breathing in deeply and staring up at the sky. The moon was out, and the stars were exceptionally bright.

"When I was little, I thought the stars were angels, and that the crickets were the angels singing. I wanted them to swoop me up and take me to the sky, so I could be a star too," West said blearily.

"That's exactly what they did. Why else would you burn so bright? I don't blame York for being interested. You draw every moth to your flame," Maine purred into her ear.

"You and your words," West shifted her face toward him, and Maine leaned in and kissed her. She kissed back. This was home – in his arms. They heard the door open behind them, and broke apart slowly.

"Oh. My bad. Don't let me stop you," It was Virginia. "Nice to see you two finally made up though."

West could hear the smugness in her friend's voice. The door opened and closed again.

"Hey, there you are Maine," It was Wash. "Oh, hey West. Hey Vi," he turned back to his friend. "I guess I struck out again," he said a bit morosely. Why the hell he was crushing on South was anyone's guess. The girls rolled their eyes and Maine muttered something that sounded like 'blind fool.' Wash shrugged and kept talking.

"Oh and Maine, Carolina said to tell you thanks for the pep talk, whatever that means." West looked up to see Maine trying to hide a smirk.

"Why you, sneaky son of a" – Maine kissed her again, cutting her off.

" A man's got a right to fight for what's his, Stacy," Maine said. He looked at agent West Virginia seriously.

"Yeah," she replied sheepishly, "thanks for not letting me forget it."

"Now, how about I carry you home?" Maine asked.

"You're always carrying me somewhere, aren't you?" West teased, reminding him of their past mishaps.

"Always."


End file.
